Us
by Strangerthandanger
Summary: What happens when Alexei leaves for military camp and Grace finds out that one of her best friends has feelings for her? Does she have feelings for him too? Or will she just await Alexei's return alone?
1. Chapter 1

I look into his blue eyes, searching for answers nobody knows. He lies too well. I would know. I've been lying to myself for years. He doesn't know what I've done, he doesn't know what I've been through. Just that I was put into a mental institution and remember every torturous second of it. Now he's just adding to the pain. He's going away. He looked into my eyes. I looked away. I couldn't take it. His eyes cutting into mine like ice. Sharp blades. Accusations of everything I did and didn't do. "Alexei, don't go." I plead. I know there's no use. He'd go even if just happened to die right here, right now. Who am I to keep him from his dream? _He's just going to college,_ I tell myself. He knows what he's doing is hurting me, but he doesn't seem to care. This isn't him. This isn't the Alexei I know. "Bye, Gracie. I love you." He says it all too serious, like it's the last time he and I would ever see each other.

 _He's just going to college,_ I tell myself again. But I know I'm wrong. It's not just college. It's training. To fight, to run, to survive. To feel no emotion. No pain. He already passed the first test. He doesn't care that he's hurting me. He says he loves me, but if he really did he wouldn't do this to me. _It's just military camp. He'll only be going there for a couple months while he's in college._ "Alexei, please," I beg with tears in my eyes. "Don't go. Don't leave me, Alexei." I grabbed his hand before he turned to walk away. He looked me in the eye again and it was like he was back. Like he had just been a different person. "Gracie, I love you. It'll be okay." He said pulling me close to him. "It will all be okay." He kissed my forehead. "Alexei, why are you doing this?" I ask. "I'm following my dreams, Gracie." He's one of the only people that get away with calling me by my nickname. I've told him not to, but he never listens. It's what my mom used to call me. It's what my brother calls me. So, it seems like it would be weird if my boyfriend called me that, but it's different. Alexei saying it, it's different, especially with his accent. _Russian._ He was always told not to get close to me, that I was bad news. He should've listened. But he didn't.

"Gracie, listen to me, if you have to run. Don't let people who don't know you _get_ to know you. They'll use you. If you have to fake an emotion, don't fake happiness, fake sadness. Then, you'll get to see who actually cares, who stops to ask if you're okay, to see if you need help." He says. It's like he knows me more than I know myself. He probably does. "Goodbye, Gracie. I love you. I'll be back soon." He got on his plane and I went back to the embassy.


	2. Chapter 2

When I got there, Noah was waiting for me. "Well, looks like the princess is back." He said. I glared at him. "And her prince just left, so she's not in a good mood." I said. I sniffled and wiped at my eyes. Noah came over and put his arm around me. "It's alright, Grace. He'll be fine." He said. I put my head on his shoulder. "Yeah, but I might not be." I said. He hugged me. He looked at me and smiled, pulling a deck of cards out his pocket. "Wanna play….?" He said with a playful grin. I laughed. "Jeez, Noah, I've barely been home five minutes." I said. He and I sat down and started playing Go Fish. We were playing cards until dinner and he stayed and ate with us. After, he stayed over a little longer making sure that I was okay. He eventually went home and I went upstairs and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up late the next day. Jamie was out playing basketball. I could hear it. The ball dribbling, pounding, against the pavement. Reminding me of all the secrets I have racing through my mind. Secrets I won't ever share. Won't ever tell. I took a shower and got dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top, pulled my hair back then went out to play with Jamie. He had his back turned. "Got room for one more?" I asked. He turned to face me. "Yeah, I guess." He passed me the ball and I made a three-pointer. We played for about an hour, then he turned to go inside. "Hey, Jamie," I called. "I'm gonna go for a run. I'll be back later." "Okay, Grace, be careful." He called back without even turning around.

I walked around to the front and started to jog. I knew I couldn't run the whole loop, but I could run some of it. I tried my best to pace myself and would run faster every few minutes. I saw Noah up ahead and I slowed to a walk. "Hey," he said. "Alexei texted me."

"Okay…." I said. "What'd he say?"

"He asked how you were, if you were okay. He said he felt bad for leaving you. I told him you were okay. You understood."

"So….you lied to him?" I asked.

"Grace, I don't want him to worry about you. You have me. You have Jamie. You're not alone." He says. I know it's the truth, but it hurts. I guess nothing's changed there. The truth always hurts. I've learned to accept it.

I've learned to accept a lot of things. Things like the truth hurts, it always will. Things like even if I could go back in time, I probably wouldn't change what I had done. Things I don't even notice until I need them. And that's when they're the most important. I've learned life saving techniques that can be used in everyday life, but can save a life if done right. For example, being light on your feet, pacing yourself. If you're light on your feet, you're usually faster and quieter. If you pace yourself, you can run longer. Tire out whoever's chasing you. Get away. I have to learn to accept how I know what I want to happen, but that it never will. I have to learn to accept reality. To live what life lays ahead of me. Good or bad. Probably bad, just like everything else. Just like my mind. My relationships. All of them. Family, friends, best friends, brother. Dead mother. The one I killed.

I was outside her shop. Watching her through the smoke. Watching her die in the Scarred Man's arms. Feeling the weight of the gun in my hands. "Gracie!" Noah called me. Shaking me back to now. Here. I didn't know it was possible, but my face was wet with tears. Noah looked worried. Was he faking caring about me, too? That's what everyone seemed to be doing these days. "I..I'm fine, Noah." I choked out. "No...Gracie. You're not." "Don't call me that." I snapped. I know I should be nicer to Noah. After all, he and Megan just broke up. He's heartbroken. That's the bad part about knowing me more than I know myself, I tend to know you better than you know yourself. "Look, Noah, I'm sorry. I just...just...need a minute." "Okay, Grace. It's okay." He said. God, he needed to stop being so understanding! I walked over to a bench and sat down. There was no way I could run again until I calmed down. I put my elbows on my knees and rested my head in my hands. After a minute, Noah came over and put his arm around me. I leaned into him and put my head on his shoulder. "Noah, I killed my mother. I killed her." I said. I had never told anybody. I knew that I could trust him. He rubbed my back. "It's okay, Gracie. It's okay." It's good for him to believe that. I learned my lesson. I don't believe much of anything anymore. My hope always dies. Just like my mother. Just like the king.


	4. Chapter 4

I looked up at Noah. He looked into my eyes. "I have to get home." I tell him. We both stood up and he walked me around the rest of my loop. Ran next to me when I ran.

My mind started racing. Noah's always been there for me. So has Alexei. I've known Alexei longer. Noah's my best friend and he could be at home crying about his ex-girlfriend, crying over their breakup, but...he's not. He's out here with me. To make sure I'm okay. To make sure I stay alive. I stopped running for a second and I realized Noah was behind me. I laughed and waited for him to catch up. "Jeez..." He was out of breath. "Grace...you run...really fast." He said between breaths. I smiled. "I was trying to run away from you." I said. He pretended to look hurt. We both laughed.

I started walking again and made sure Noah could keep up. I turned at the wrong spot on purpose, just to get out of sight. Noah followed me. I just needed a break. I laid down on the grass and spread my arms out like I was making a snow angel. Noah laughed and laid down next to me. I rolled over and put my head on his chest. Do I have feelings for him?

I had to ask him why he was always with me.

"Hey, Noah?" I asked.

"Yeah, Grace?"

"Why are you out here with me when you're upset yourself and want to be at home?"

"I'm not upset." He said.

"Noah, don't lie to me. I can tell you're upset. I know you."

"Stop that. I don't like when you know what I'm feeling!" He said with a small laugh. "Why would I want to be at home alone with my thoughts when I could be out here with yours? Your thoughts are worse than mine. And I love it because I get to fix yours and you get to fix some of mine." He said it with a smile on his as if it was a precious thought. A precious memory.

I sat up and looked at him. He did the same, sat up and looked at me. "What?" He asked. "Oh, nothing…" I said. He looked at me suspiciously. I raised an eyebrow and got up. As soon I was up I was running back the way I came. Away from home. "Hey! Wait!" Noah yelled from behind me. I walked behind a section of trees to catch my breath and wait for him

When he finally caught up I looked at him. "About time, Noah. It took you long enough." I was laughing because he was out of breath again. "You're cruel, Grace." I smiled at him. "I know. It's fun! I enjoy it." He smiled at me and when he caught his breath he said, "I can tell."

I couldn't take it anymore. I walked up to him and put my hand on the sides of his face and then his lips were on mine and his hands on my waist. I almost pulled back. Sure, that's what I was getting ready to do, but I didn't expect him to do it first! After a couple seconds I kissed him back and he slid his hands to my back and I wrapped my arms around his neck. I wasn't thinking about Alexei, I was thinking about Noah. My best friend. I was thinking about us. Together. Could I be a worse friend? I mean, seriously! He and his girlfriend just broke up, my boyfriend just left for military camp, and now we're kissing.


	5. Chapter 5

He and I both pulled apart at the same time. I covered my face with my hands and leaned into him. How could I have done that?

"Gracie...Gracie, I'm sorry." He said. I could tell he meant it, but I did it too. I was going to kiss him anyway. "Don't be." I said. Just then, Noah's phone rang. He took it out his pocket and I took it from him and answered it. Not bothering to check to see who it was.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Oh, hey Gracie!" Russian. Why did Alexei have to call now? I gave Noah a look.

"Oh….hey….Alexei." I said awkwardly.

"Something wrong?" He asked

"Hmm? Oh. No, nothing's wrong. Here's Noah." I spoke too quickly. Made it obvious something was wrong.

"Hey, Alexei!" Noah sounded so casual. I could hear Alexei say something, but I couldn't make out what it was. Noah gave me a look, so I could tell it was something bad.

"Um...yeah. She's still right here." He left out the part where I was still leaning up against him and never wanted to leave. Well...he probably didn't know about that last part. He handed me the phone.

"Gracie?" Alexei asked.

"Yeah?"

"I...um...I might stay down here it's beautiful...and I don't know if we're working out."

"What?"

"I would've told you sooner, but I was spending as much time with you as I could. I still love you, but I'm going to be down here for months and...and I might even stay. It wouldn't be fair if we stayed together and I stay down here for years or months at a time. Maybe even forever. I want to you be able to see other people without feeling guilty." Alexei said. He sounded upset like he really didn't want to break up with me.

"Oh...about that...it might be a little late, but that's not important. Bye Alexei. Talk to you later...maybe." I handed Noah back his phone. I heard Alexei say something else.

"Yeah….she might not want me to tell you. I'll have to ask her. Okay, bye, Alexei." Noah ended the call.

I felt bad enough for kissing another guy while I had a boyfriend, even worse that the guy I kissed had just gone through a breakup, and even worse he was my best friend. "So...what'd he say to you?" I asked. Noah glared at me. "Well, you told him 'Oh...it's not important'," He did his best voice impression of me, which was awful. "So now I have to text him telling him what happened." "Give me your phone then." I said and he gave me a funny look. I knew he wasn't going to give it to me so I took it from him again. "Gracie!" I ignored him and put in his password. The only reason I knew his password was because I had Megan, his ex, hack into it and tell me what it was. I pulled up his texts and messaged Alexei, holding the phone at an angle so Noah couldn't read what I was sending. 'Hey, Alexei. It's Grace. What wasn't, and still isn't, important was that me and Noah had kissed before you called to break up with me and he and I both felt terrible. But you told me not to, so whatever. Bye!' I hit send, turned off the screen, smiled at Noah, and then handed him his phone. "Oh no. Grace, what did you do?" He asked, his eyes going wide. "I texted Alexei."

Noah looked at me. "Okay...so what did he say to you?" He asked. It was a good question. "Oh...you know….he broke up with me." It registered, but I didn't feel as bad as I thought I would. Really, I didn't and I know that probably makes me a horrible person. The guy I was crying about yesterday called me and broke up with me today and I don't feel that bad. I mean, yeah, I'm a little upset, but the past is the past. What's happened can't be undone. I know that better than anybody.

"Oh, Gracie, I'm sorry." Noah said. I know he didn't really care, but he still pretended to. For me. "Yeah, well, don't be. I'm not." He looked at me. "Why….?" "Because, now I can do this." I grabbed his shirt and pulled him even closer to me and I kissed him again. He hesitated before kissing me back, but only for a second. After a minute, I loosened my grip and he pulled away. I smiled at him. "Look, Gracie, I-" "Noah you kissed me first, so you cannot tell me you don't have feelings for me." I said, putting my hands on my hips. He sighed. "You're right, Grace. I can't lie to you."

It was obvious something was wrong. "Noah, what's wrong?" I asked him.

"No. It's nothing, Gracie."

"Noah, I told you my deepest, darkest secret. You can tell me what's bugging you."

He sighed. "It's not right for us to be together. Both of us just went through a breakup. I'm fine about mine, but you need time…." A lie.

"I'm, obviously, fine. So...you're lying. And you told me that you and Megan both broke up with each other. That it was mutual." I said.

"It was. Like I said, I'm fine. You need time." He snapped. I stepped away from him.

"Noah...I'm fine. I thought that much was obvious since, you know, I just kissed you. Again. I need nothing." I said, then I snapped back, "I definitely don't need you." I turned to walk away and I saw somebody run past. I wouldn't have noticed, except they almost ran into me. I jumped back and waited a second before looking to see who it was. When I looked, I noticed it was Jamie. Going for his run.

I was about to call him when Noah reached for my arm. "Gracie-" He started. "No. Look, Noah, I don't feel like dealing with it anymore. I'm tired of the lies. I'm tired of everybody lying to me." I snapped. I didn't mean to, but I was yelling. He looked hurt, but I honestly didn't really care. He hurt me. He acts like he's so innocent. I learned a long time ago nobody is what they ever seem. I learned not to trust people. Especially myself.

I turned to walk away and heard him mumble something under his breath. I spun around. "What'd you just say?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "I didn't say anything." I suddenly felt bad. He seemed so upset. It's not like I started the argument, like I woke up this morning 'oh how about I get into an argument with Noah today'. "Noah, I heard you, don't lie." He walked up to me and put his arms around me. "I said that you know me too well." He smiled a small smile. "That I want to be with you. I really do, but...I want to wait. Just a couple weeks at least." He looked into my eyes. Stared. I had never really noticed our height difference. He was, about, three or four inches taller than me.

"Why….so you can get over your "mutual" breakup with Megan?" I asked. I was trying not to smile, but I was failing. He pushed me away playfully. I couldn't help but laugh.

He turned to walk away. "Hey, Hey. No. Where you goin'?" I asked, jogging to catch up. He turned around, "Wherever I wanna go." As he went to turn back around I grabbed his hand. "That's not a good answer." I said jokingly. I wanted to kiss him again. Bad.

I'm probably making it weird between us. After all, we've been just friends for maybe a year now. "Grace, I don't care if it was a good answer. We need to talk but, I'm hungry. I'm going to get food instead." He said. I laughed. "Take me with you. I haven't eaten all day. We can talk about it while we eat." I said.


	6. Chapter 6

I hadn't let go of his hand. I wasn't really holding his hand, it was more like I was holding his wrist so he wouldn't walk away. "Alright then, Grace, let's go get something to eat." I let go of his wrist so we could actually walk down the streets without looking too weird.

I couldn't help but think about the conversation we were about to have. It was going to be really weird, but I deserved it. "Hey, Grace?" I was nervous. Why? What was there to be nervous about? "Yeah?" I asked. "I'll pay for lunch." I looked at him confused, he knows I don't like relying on people. He intertwined his fingers with mine. I leaned into him. We walked into a restaurant and got a table for two.

We ordered our drinks and then he looked at me. "Okay, we need to talk." He said. I got awkward. "Look, Grace, I want to be with you. Okay? Really, I do. But Alexei just broke up with you, Megan and I just broke up…" I just looked at him and said, "I don't know why you're acting like you're not hurt she dumped you. I don't expect you to be over her. You act like I want you to date me right away, or even at all. I understand that you want some time. Alexei and I haven't been working out for months. I mean, yeah, I'll miss him. He was Jamie's best friend. But he's not the one for me, Noah. I'm not going to waste my time on a guy who I may never see again." I said. Right as I finished talking our waitress came back to bring us our drinks and take our food orders.

He just looked at me and sighed. I knew I had gotten to him and I actually felt really bad. I didn't mean to hurt him. Really, I didn't. So, after a minute, I said, "Look, Noah, I understand that. I respect that you want a few weeks to yourself. You just don't know how much I like you." Oh no. What have I done. I felt my face turn bright red.

He just looked at me and smiled. "Yeah?" He asked. After a couple minutes, I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, our waitress brought us our food. Before he could say anything, I started eating. He laughed and started eating too.

After I finished, I put my head down for a minute to think. Noah was finished a few minutes after me. "Okay, Gracie, we do really need to talk about this, though." He paid and we left. I didn't want to talk anymore, I would say something worse than what I already had.

I was walking back to the embassy. He was right behind me. "Noah, we can talk in my room." I said. I wouldn't look at him. I was barely looking in front of me. Just staring at the ground as I walked. I didn't stop until Noah grabbed my hand and pulled me into another section of trees. As soon as I looked up at him, his lips were on mine and his eyes were closed.

Part of me wanted to kiss him back. Bad. But I knew he didn't mean it. He was just doing it to get my attention. I jerked away from him, then snapped, "What was that for?!" "To get your attention." Yup, I was right. He took both my hands in his. "Gracie, what's wrong? You never act like this." I glared at him. "Nothing's wrong. Leave me alone." I pulled away from him and kept on walking. He stood there for a minute before jogging to catch up with me. I had tears in my eyes and nobody wants to see me be weak. Watch me cry. Nobody ever does.

"Gracie…" He said. I ignored him. I didn't feel like talking. I didn't feel like doing anything really.

When I walked into the embassy, Jamie was already back. "Hey, Gracie, what are you doing?" He asked. "Noah and I are going to study." I said back. He just looked at me and smirked. Then after a second, he whispered to me, "Better not be studying each other." I felt myself blush and my eyes go wide. "Jamie!" I yelled as I slapped his arm. He just laughed.

I walked up to my room without saying another word. When I sat down on my bed Noah closed the door. "So….Grace…" I knew this conversation was going to be even weirder than the one we had at lunch. He came and sat down next to me. He took my hand in his and said, "I don't how much you like me?" I rolled my eyes and pulled my hand away. "Oh my god. Leave me alone, Noah." I couldn't help but to smile. My mood swings were getting worse.

"Yeah?" He asked. "Grace...look at me." Ugh...he noticed I wasn't looking at him. Why is he being observant now? I looked up at him and he looked into my eyes. "Why? Maybe I don't wanna look at you. Ever thought of that? Huh?" I said, laughing. "True. Who would? But...just look at me for a minute, okay, Grace?" I rolled my eyes. "Ugh, fine." I looked at him again.

I was trying my best not to laugh. It was good cover for hiding what was on my mind. All I could think about was kissing him. My fingers running through his jet black hair. My lips on his as he smiled against it. Pulling away and staring into each other's eyes because there was no hiding our feelings for each other any longer.

He squinted. "What are you thinking about?" He asked. "How funny you look." I laughed even harder. "Well then…" I, all of a sudden, leaned forward and kissed him. After a couple seconds, he pulled away. "We really need to talk, Gracie." "Don't call me that, Noah." I checked the time and it was already four. It didn't seem like it was that late.

He rolled his eyes. "Would you rather me call you Princess?" I shifted. "What do we need to talk about?" I had liked him for months, but I had also liked Alexei. Every time something happened with Alexei, I went to Noah. He could cheer me up. Sometimes without even trying. "Grace, I really like you. I do. Believe me when I say that. But...we can't date yet. Not yet. Honestly, Alexei might call tomorrow saying he wants you back." He was joking about Alexei calling me tomorrow. I laughed a little. "I doubt it, Noah." He smiled and kissed me.


	7. Chapter 7

I couldn't help but smile as I kissed him back. "Oh...so when I kiss you we have to talk, but when you kiss me it's okay?" I asked, laughing. "You said earlier that we couldn't date yet because we had both just gone through a breakup." "Yeah…?" He said. "Your little 'mutual' breakup with Megan. It's obvious it wasn't mutual though." He sighed. It was obvious that she had broken up with him for a specific reason. One he wasn't telling me. "You're right."

"So why'd she actually break up with you?" I asked. He looked at me and sighed again. "She said that it was obvious I liked you and she was convinced I liked you more than I liked her. She was right, but I did really like her. I wanted you to be happy. And you were happy, with Alexei. I would've been happy with Megan as long as you two stayed together, but that didn't happen. Obviously." I felt bad. I couldn't help but to feel like to was my fault. Like if I wasn't here, didn't exist, that they would still be together. Even though I did like him.

I hugged him. "Noah, I'm sorry." When he wrapped his arms around me, I couldn't help but smile. Then, he kissed me. I pulled away, but we were still close. Staring into each other's eyes as I whispered, "Does this mean we're together?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "Why would it? Just 'cause we've kissed, like, seven times since we got here less than an hour ago, doesn't mean we're together." He said. I thought for a minute, then said, "So...what I got from that was: forever…?" He smiled. "You know me too well." I kissed him again, running my fingers through his hair. Just a couple days ago I couldn't have seen us together. I would've denied I even liked him. He laughed a small laugh, then whispered in my ear, "I love you." I smiled. "I can tell. Guess that means you finally got over your 'mutual' breakup." He pulled back, smiled, and rolled his eyes. I took his hand in mine. "We should probably go downstairs. For dinner." I said. He just looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I let go of his hand and got up. He followed me to the door and before I opened it, he looked at me. He was a few steps behind me. Leaning up against a wall. "Grace, come here a minute." He said.

I sighed and smiled at him. "Fine." I walked over to him and asked, "What do you want now, Greedy?" He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "Really?" He took a step forward, closing the space between us. I looked into his brown eyes. I knew he was about to kiss me because he kept looking at my lips. "Don't you think we've kissed enough?" I asked. "There's no such thing as kissing the one you love too much..." He said. His words of wisdom today. Hooray for me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I wrapped my arms around his neck. I had to stand on my tiptoes. Embarrassing. All of a sudden, he spun and pressed me against the wall, kissing me harder. I knew it was going to get dark soon and he had to get home. I moved my hands to his shoulders and pushed down, knowing he'd figure out what I was doing.

He slid his hands down to my hips and pulled me up so I could wrap my legs around him. I laughed and he kissed me again. After another minute passed, I pulled away. "Dinner." I said. "Yeah, okay." I put my hands on his shoulders and he let go of me. I walked over to my mirror and straightened out my hair. Being up against the wall had knotted it some.

We were walking down the stairs when Jamie called us. "Coming!" I yelled back. We sat next to each other and ate dinner. I was glad that Jamie liked him. After dinner, he left. "So what were you guys studying?" Jamie asked. "Science," I said. "We're both going to be in honors and want to keep our grades up." That part was true. "You weren't studying each other's mouths? 'Cause that's what it sounded like when I was coming downstairs to make dinner." I felt myself blush. "Uh….well…." "You both love each other. There's no kissing the one you love too much. Yeah, yeah. I heard it all." We were washing dishes and I almost dropped the plate I had in my hand. "So what happened with Alexei?" He asked. "Jamie! There's no way you heard all that when you walked past to make dinner. Those things happened, like, ten minutes apart!" He looked up. "Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you. I was sitting outside your door the whole time. You're welcome!" He grinned. "Oh my god! Jamie! I'm seventeen! I need privacy." I was blushing and trying not to smile, even though I was mighty embarrassed. "It wasn't very private. Noah was in there." I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean." He laughed and said, "Yeah, but I don't care." Jeez. Straightforward much.

I couldn't get over the fact that Jamie had been sitting there the entire time. Or at least most of the time. He did have to make dinner, so I had a few minutes of privacy. "I can't believe you Jamie!" I was trying my best not to smile. I was failing. Miserably. "You should. I'm not lying." He was grinning. I walked away to go back to my room and call Noah to see if he was home yet.

I walked in my room and saw I had a new message. From Noah. Figures. I sat on my bed and checked it. Hey, Princess. See you tomorrow? I rolled my eyes he knew I hated when he called me princess, but only because it was the truth. I was a princess. I was the long lost princess of Adria.


	8. Chapter 8

Part of me wanted to laugh, because I knew he was attempting to flirt with me. Through text. I'm no princess Noah. Sure, see you tomorrow. I really wanted to see him tomorrow. Noah was my best friend. I laid down and thought about everything. I started to feel bad. Noah and Megan just broke up and now he and I are dating. Alexei and I just broke up and me and Noah are dating. We shouldn't be. We both just went through a breakup. We talked about it first, well...tried to at least.

I knew Megan had probably already moved on. Maybe not all the way, but mostly.


	9. Chapter 9

I woke up early. Well, early for me, at least. It was about 8:45. I didn't remember falling asleep last night, but I guess I did. I sighed and crawled out of bed, looked in the mirror and decided that my bun wasn't too messed up and that I didn't need to fix it.

I walked up to my closet and grabbed a pair of workout pants and a short-sleeved t-shirt. After changing, I looked in the mirror again and changed my mind. My bun was a _mess_. I took it down and pulled it back into a simple ponytail. I put on socks and my tennis shoes before running downstairs and grabbing an apple. I took a bite and called, "I'll be back, Jamie!"

I ran outside and started walking, eating the rest of my apple. I had a feeling that I was being watched. Maybe even followed. I threw away my apple and figured that it was just my paranoia. That no one was actually there. Until I heard someone yell, "Ow!" I spun around and was getting ready to run when I realized that it was Noah. He had tripped and hurt his ankle. "Noah, you okay?" I asked. He mumbled, "Yeah, I'll be fine." I smiled. "Were you following me?" I asked. He thought for a second before saying, "Yeah, definitely." I laughed, them muttered to myself, "Of course you were." He looked up, "Hey! I heard that!" I just grinned.

He got up and limped over to me. I was only a few feet away, but it looked like it hurt. Bad. "Noah, are you sure you're okay? You're limping." He rolled his eyes. "I'll live, Grace." He sounded annoyed. I wasn't sure why. I hoped he wasn't annoyed by me... "Okay…" I felt like I had done it, like I had upset him somehow. Though I wasn't sure how. I started walking faster without realizing it. "Grace, slow down." I stopped and waited. My mind was somewhere else. Not here. Not with Noah.

He rested his hand on my shoulder for a minute. "Something bothering you?" He asked. I looked over at him. "Hmm? Oh. No, I'm okay." I faked a smile and started to walk again. I was walking slow so he could keep pace. I looked around for a second, then walked over to a bench. Noah sighed, but followed. He sat down next to me. "Noah, let me see your ankle." I said. He sighed and said, "Grace, is this the reason you sat down? To look at my ankle? I'll be fine, Gracie." I noticed that we'd been walking around together for, at least, eight-ish minutes and that's the first time he'd said 'Gracie'. Something was wrong. "I don't care, Noah. Let me see your ankle." He sighed, but didn't argue.

It was swollen and I could tell it hurt. "You need to put ice on it." "I'll live, Grace. I'll put ice on it when I get home." He said. I had left my phone at home and knew I had to be back to it as soon as I could. "Well, I'm going home, you can come if you want." I stood up and offered to help him up. He got up on his own and started walking with me. I was starting to get annoyed with the way he was acting.

When we got back to the embassy he came with me and we went up to my room after grabbing ice. He sat on my bed to look at and ice his ankle. I walked into my bathroom to fix my hair, that had somehow become messed up. Ugh! After I had it fixed, I went and checked my phone. Two missed calls and three new messages. I looked up at Noah. "Is this from you?" I asked. He sighed. "Nope." He was _definitely_ upset about something. I went and sat next to him, checking to see who had tried to call.

I stopped and looked at Noah for a minute. "Noah, what's wrong?" "Nothing's wrong, Grace." I didn't believe him. At all. As I was looking at my phone, I started talking under my breath. "Well, you usually never actually call me Grace, usually you call me Gracie. You've seemed irritated all morning. I know you're lying." I stopped when I realized who had called me. They were calling again. I answered. "Hey, Alexei."


	10. Chapter 10

Noah looked at me and it clicked. He had been upset all morning because Alexei had been trying to get in touch with him too and, by the look I was getting, probably had. "Grace! I've been trying to get in touch with you all morning." Wow. He had been trying to talk to me and called Noah to see if I was with him. "I was out on a walk, sorry. What'd you need?" The line went silent. "I love you…" I heard him say quietly. I didn't mean to say it out loud, but I did. "Oh…" "What?" I heard Noah whisper to me. I held up a finger. "Well, Alexei, you're the one who ended it. We haven't been working out for months. It's not rea-" He cut me off saying, "Gracie, if you will get back together with me, I will come back home." I knew he meant it. I froze. "I-I'll have to think about it…" I said. "Okay...just let me know." I hung up.

Noah looked at me. "So…I think you know why I was upset." He said, his eyes cold. "Noah, I-" He sighed. "Gracie, don't. You'll just make it worse." I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just tell Alexei I was over him. I wasn't. Not yet, at least. "What'd he say to you?" I asked. He laid back, still balancing the ice on his ankle. "He was looking for you and I told him you were probably still asleep and he said that he wanted my help with something. So, I asked what. He said he wanted you back. That he regretted breaking up with you." Then, even though he was upset, he smirked. "Told you he would call today saying he wanted you back." I smacked him lightly on the arm.

I took the ice off his ankle and got him to take his shoe off. "Let's change subject. Noah, your ankle looks pretty swollen, you should probably get it checked out." I said. "Oh, I'll live." He sat up and leaned toward me, resting his forehead against mine. "Gracie, Do you want to be with Alexei?" He asked. I wasn't sure how to answer. I wanted to be with him. I loved him. But I had also been with Alexei for several months and thought that I loved him too. I sighed. "I...I don't think so…but I don't know.." I said, then whined, "And don't call me that, Noah." He tilted his head and kissed me.

I smiled and kissed him back. He pulled away after a minute. "Imma call you whatever I wanna call you. If I wanna call you Grace, I'll call you Grace. If I wanna call you Gracie, I'll call you Gracie." He said with a smile. "Then I'll call you prince." He hated all the royalty drama that had been going on and had told me that he was glad that he wasn't in it. He jokingly glared at me. "Only if you'll be my princess." I felt myself blush.

He smiled his dashing smile. "That blush tells me that I win this time." I pushed him away. "Yeah...this time." I said sarcastically. He pretended to be hurt by that. I leaned forward and kissed him. Again. I pulled away and said, "You need to get that ankle looked at." I wasn't going to let the subject drop. He rolled his eyes. "Fine…" I smiled. "Come on." "Wait, now?" He asked, surprised. "Yeah, now. We'll have Jamie look at it if you'd rather do that." I said. Jamie wasn't a doctor, but he took a lot of first aid classes after he got stabbed. "Yeah, let's do that." He said.

We got up and walked down the stairs. "Jamie," I called. I heard him in the living room. I heard another voice in the room, someone I had never heard before. It was a girl. I heard Jamie shush her and then quickly get up and jog to the base of the stairs. "Yeah Grace?" I gave him a funny look and pointed to the couch, which wasn't yet in sight but he got the idea. His face turned bright red and he shook his head no. "Okay...well, Noah twisted his ankle and needs someone to look at it." "No I don't," Noah whispered from behind me. "Yes you do." Jamie looked at us and laughed. "Alright, Noah, come on. I'll take a look at your ankle so she'll leave you alone. I know how annoying she can be." He said teasingly. "Hey!" I yelled, laughing and then all three of us were laughing. It felt right. It felt like the world was perfect. Like there was no wrong. Like there was nothing that could break this moment.


	11. Chapter 11

Slowly our laughter faded away and we walked into the kitchen, propping Noah's ankle up on an extra chair. I walked over to our house phone to check to make sure we didn't have any new voicemails and, of course, we didn't. Jamie was busy feeling to see if there was any swelling when I walked back in the room. "Maybe he just sprained it? At worst he fractured it. It's swollen, but not too bad, if it gets any worse he'll have to go get an x-ray."

I looked at Jamie while he was talking, obviously. But then before he could stop me, I ran into the sitting room. There was a girl sitting there. She smiled but it was out of confusion. "Grace!" Jamie yelled. I just laughed. "Hey, I'm grace. Jamie's younger sister. Never seen you around, are you new here?" I put my hand out for her to shake and she happily took it. "Yeah, I am. Nice to meet you, Grace. I'm Alex. Jamie here was just showing me around." She said, making air quotes around showing me around. I mumbled, "around the house?" and she laughed.

Jamie ran in and looked at me and then at Alex. "I see you've met Alexandra." He said, his face turning slightly red. I grinned and said, "Yeah, she said you were showing her around." She laughed and said that she needed to go, so me and Noah went back upstairs...even though I told him not to go up the stairs. _Stubborn_.

I told Noah to go ahead in my room, that I had to go to the bathroom. I was only in there a few minutes, but when I walked out he looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Noah?" I asked, making him jump.

"Oh, hey." He said, then wiped his nose and sniffled as if he were trying to hide the fact that he was crying.

"Noah, what's wrong?" Had I done something that had upset him? Was it my fault that he was crying? He wiped his eyes, trying hard to stop crying. It wasn't working.

"Thomas...he just texted me. Rosie's at the hospital. She got hit by a car..they don't know how bad it is yet. He wants us to go." He looked up at me with his big, brown eyes. "We have to go, Gracie. We have to. You know how much it would mean to them...especially if…" He trailed off and I was glad he did because I didn't even want to think about that possibility.

"Um..okay." I had a million things running through my head. My luck. Everything bad is happening at the same time. "Let's go." And with that we were gone.


	12. Chapter 12

We went out to try and catch a taxi, but here in the embassy there's very few taxi drivers. Everyone walks everywhere. It's to confusing going between all the different areas and backroads.

We didn't wait long to just _run_. If Rosie was hit by a car, it could've been on purpose. There's so many people still after us - there's no telling.

But Rosie didn't do anything. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve any of this.

We were running for what felt like forever and I couldn't take it anymore. I stopped, panting, barely being able to see straight. Worry taking over every part of my body. I was shaking so bad I felt like I had drank 100 coffees in two minutes. If Rosie doesn't make it…

I changed my thought before my shaking got any worse. Noah looked at me and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground. Noah was reaching for me. He was trying to pull me up, but I was too dizzy to stand.

"Gracie. Gracie, hey! Look at me, Grace!" My mind was spinning. I felt sick. I don't know what had happened. Noah was squatting next to me, feeling my forehead. "God, Grace. Your forehead is burning up." I felt like hell. There's no sugarcoating it. "Deep breaths, Grace. Deep breaths." I was still breathing heavy even though we'd been stopped at least 10 minutes. Noah was fumbling for his phone in his pocket and no matter how much I racked my brain trying to figure out why, I couldn't.

My head was _pounding_.

The spinning was only getting faster and my vision was going in and out. I couldn't even see where Noah was. My shaking hadn't gotten worse but it hadn't gotten better either. "Grace, hey, I'm calling someone now. It's okay." I could hear the ringing and Noah starting to say something, but then, the world was black.


End file.
